
In summer 2022, brothers Danny and Zach Guarino decided to make a joint TikTok account.
Less than a year later, that account, “The Bread Basket,” has more than 1.1 million followers on TikTok — and almost 200,000 followers on Instagram. It has gone from a fun side project to a rapidly growing podcast and media company.
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The Denver natives use an overarching sports theme — often analyzing things like an NBA Draft analyst would — to create comedic, lighthearted content that is relatable. Their draft videos — they’ll do a snake-style draft of everything from the top Super Smash Bros. characters to the best names that start with the letter “J” — routinely draw in hundreds of thousands of views and thousands of comments.
The best part, the brothers say, is being able to work together and stay so close, despite living on opposite sides of the country. Danny, 25, lives in Nashville, Tenn., simultaneously working on his budding music career. Zach, 22, is a senior at Whittier College in Whittier, Calif. Even with the two-hour time difference, they record at least one video each day, keeping the content cycle churning.
“It’s literally the No. 1 dream job,” Danny Guarino said. “We’ve always wanted to do something like this. We didn’t know how it would look or what it would be, but to actually have it happen, it’s a dream come true. It’s everything. We talk all the time, anyway, and so now, we’re just doing that, but we’re doing it for a living, essentially, which is just crazy.”
“Yeah, it’s just awesome,” Zach added. “We just will film for 20 minutes and chat for 40 every night. It’s fun. I love it.”
In Episode 2 of Season 2 of “Stargazing,” The Athletic’s NBA culture podcast, the Guarino brothers spoke about their fast rise on social media, collaborating with NBA sportscaster (and TikTok star) Richard Jefferson, aspiring to land interviews with Drake and Nikola Jokić, the highs and lows of content creation and working together as brothers, among other topics.
Here are parts of our conversation.
Note: Questions and answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.
How did you guys come up with this idea? And then how did you start to perfect what was working and figure out your voice and your tone?
Zach Guarino: When we started out, Danny was already kind of popping. He already had his own page going. We just thought that there was potential for something that we could do together. But obviously, we didn’t have that much direction early on, so our plan was just to throw a bunch of stuff at the wall and see what sticks. The first time we posted a draft, I think it went for, like, a million views. I think from that day, we haven’t gone a day without posting one. So, it was just, like, see what works, and when something works, just keep doing it.
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Danny Guarino: I think a big key for us, too, is — we do “20 Questions” and other series, as well — when we find something that works, we get every ounce of it that we can. Instead of just doing, like, a draft, and being like, “Oh, that’s cool, maybe we do, like, one a week,” we’ve probably done 150 drafts at this point. We just see something that works and capitalize.
How’d you guys come up with the name?
Zach: Listen, the name of this podcast is actually sick — “Stargazing.”
Danny: Yeah, it’s fire.
Zach: I think you probably experienced the same thing. When you’re making a podcast, how do you even go about finding a name? It’s such a weird process. I was thinking it’s gonna be a funny, goofy show, a fun vibe. What are we going to name our fans? And I was, like, let’s just reverse-engineer from there. I was in class, and I thought of calling our fans “Breadsticks,” and I just started laughing out loud. And then, I was like, “OK, Breadsticks … Bread Basket.” I think that name just has a good ring to it. It just kind of feels almost like Barstool or Lyrical Lemonade — an inanimate object that just kind of works.
How do you guys come up with your video ideas? Sometimes it’s simple, but it’s so universal. I think it really draws people in. Do you guys have a notes list of a bunch of ideas? How are you going about your creation process?
Danny: It’s nice to have two of us, because it’s just double the ideas. I don’t know exactly Zach’s process, because we’ll just come into like a filming session and pitch our ideas that we have. But for me, I try to brainstorm for, like, 20 to 30 minutes pretty much every day. So then, on days that I don’t feel inspired, I have a list to go back on. That’s what I do. I try to just consistently brainstorm every day.
Zach: Pretty much do the same thing. I film in the closet, and if you walk in there, you’d think I’m a crazy person because I have sticky notes all over the wall. It’s funny because a lot of the sticky notes just stay up there forever, because they’re just really bad ideas. I don’t even know why they’re up there at this point. I think the more universal the concept, the better. Just simple stuff. Like, green things. That’s the best way to do it. But now, I think we got to get a little bit more creative because we’ve done a couple at this point.
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How long does it take to record a video?
Danny: That’s probably gonna run, like, five to 10 minutes for filming. And then, we just chop that footage up into, like, a minute and a half or whatever. We were actually talking about this the other night: We probably film for like 20 minutes, maybe 30, and then our calls will be like an hour. We’re just talking about … I don’t even know. We just talk.
You guys linked up with Richard Jefferson, a former Nugget for 20 games in the final year of his career. How did that come about? And what was that experience like?
Zach: I think we saw that he was following us on TikTok, and we just reached out. He was our first guest, actually, so shoutout to Richard for that. I mean, that was real. I think we only had, like, not a lot of followers at that time, too. He’s just the best. We reached out to him, and he was like, “Yeah, I’ll definitely come on.” When he was in Denver, we saw that he was calling the game, and we filmed with him the day before. He was like, “You can come hang out,” and we got to meet him. He was a super cool dude.
Do you guys have any dream guests or collaborations? I’ve noticed you’ve been collaborating more with people. The draft formula is replicable with, basically, any guest.
Danny: I think dream guests for us are, like, we want Drake eventually. We want Jokić. We want to get some Nuggets on.
Zach: Jok will never happen. I think Drake would happen before Jok.
Danny: We want to incorporate a bunch of guests. We think that (with) the whole draft thing and the “20 questions” thing that we do, we kind of unintentionally created a very easy thing for celebrities to come on and do, because it’s just lighthearted and fun. It’s not heavy-hitting questions or anything. I think that’s kind of how we’ve had people reach out and want to come on. We’re just gonna keep building on that.
Zach: And if you know Caleb Presley, he does the “Sundae Conversation,” and I saw Drake going on there. I think I texted Danny, and I was like, “We’re gonna get Drake. We’re getting him.” Because you don’t see Drake doing, like, funny stuff. Now I guess he’s doing some s—, so I don’t know. I think we can do it eventually.
What’s the best and worst part about being a content creator?
Zach: I think it’s just a lot more work than people would think. Obviously, it’s your dream job. Let’s not get it twisted; we’re just having fun. But it also is a big commitment to every night we’re gonna film, and every night we’re gonna edit. It is a lot to do. I’m in school, so I have to give up a lot of stuff (and not be) messing around all the time, which I love to do. I can’t really do that anymore because I committed to doing this, which is super fun, but I think you have to sacrifice some of your time, for sure, to get into this. But it is the dream. It is super fun, so no complaints, obviously.
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Danny: Yeah, I’d agree. It’s a lot of hours. I just don’t think a lot of people want to film every night at 8 p.m. It’s a sacrifice you make, for sure. But again, like Zach was saying, it is a dream life at the same time. I think the other thing with it is, it’s very inconsistent with ups and downs and views and all that stuff. That’s something that I think we’re both getting better at. But it’s tough. It could give you some anxiety, because it’s not steady at all. I guess it’s the opposite of steady being in this world. There’s just so many ups and downs, so that can be tough, too.
You guys have mentioned just scratching the surface with this. Where do you want to take it? What are you guys looking to do, ultimately, five to 10 years down the road?
Zach: We’re definitely gonna have a podcast — like, a full-length thing — soon. It sounds crazy, but we want to be one of the biggest things in the world, to be honest with you. … It’s gonna change a lot throughout the next 10 years, but I think if we just keep trying and keep working at it, it’ll pave its way for itself and we’ll know exactly which avenue to take. I just feel it’s kind of the intention and the effort that we have to put in. And then, I kind of just trust that it’ll work itself out.
Danny: Yeah, that’s pretty much how I see it, too. I mean, like specific things Zach was saying, we want the pod, like, a full length. I think that’s a long-term thing, because we could do that when we’re 50. Just sit down and talk, which is amazing. That’s a dream. We want our merch to be a super big part of what we do, too. I mean, other than that, yeah, we’re just going to keep working, and we want to be huge.
(Photo courtesy of Danny and Zach Guarino)
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